When conducting research, use a variety of types of information resources:
Evaluate all information sources for credibility, and ask your instructor or a librarian for help if you're unsure if a source is appropriate for college and professional research.
Cite your sources using APA citation style or the style recommended by your instructor. [OWL: Link to Purdue Online Writing Lab]
Remember: Librarians are on-call 24/7 to help you with research.
Start your research by consulting subject encyclopedias of Criminal Justice, Public Safety, and related topics. You will find:
Oxford Research Encyclopedia:
Criminology and Criminal Justice
The library has selected textbooks on reserve at the Check-Out desk.
(If the textbook you want is not on reserve, you may wish to ask your instructor if they would like to arrange for the course text to be on library reserve.)
Example Reserve textbooks include:
Search the library catalog to find books on specific subjects. You will find print books and some ebooks.
Use your college ID card to check out books.
Reference books are on the 1st floor.
They're a great starting place for research.
Partner Libraries search will find books at Gonzaga and other area college libraries.
Your SCC Library has books on these subjects & more:
Here are a few information sources to get you started. Check with an SCC Librarian if you're not finding what you need.
The National Criminal Justice Reference Service brings together data, publications, news, and other information from the U.S. Office of Justice Programs.
The site is searchable, or you can browse by topic.
Article Databases (and more)
The databases below contain periodical articles (from newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals) and may contain other types of information like ebooks, videos, images, primary sources, test prep., and more.
The websites below act as indexes to articles.
Some are full text and some are available for a fee.
Use these indexes to find articles and other research, but don't purchase articles, as the SCC library provides them for you for free.
Contact a librarian ASAP if you want any articles.
We will obtain them for free for you.